 In addition, contractors who do tree trimming and other yardwork use
the landfill to dispose of their waste. In the case of contractors,
they are charged a fee per load to dispose of their materials.
Recently, however, a complaint was issued to the Lincoln City
Council that not all contractors are paying the fees. The problem
lies in the city workers' inability to know who is a contractor and
who is a private citizen of the city.
Tuesday evening the city's Sidewalks, Forestry and Lighting
Committee met for the second time in a month in an effort to come up
with an equitable solution to the problem.
Alderman David Armbrust chairs the committee and opened by saying
that he has no problem with the idea of establishing a charge for
the use of the landfill. He noted that statistically only 20 percent
of the city's residents actually use the landfill, yet it is being
maintained by taxpayer dollars.
"I don't feel bad asking folks to pay a fee for this. I was
brought up that you pay for what you get," Armbrust said. He
recapped the discussions of the last meeting, saying there had been
discussions about charging an annual fee, establishing a punch card
system of perhaps 12 punches for $10. He also noted that perhaps the
landfill could also offer free days on occasion for those who cannot
afford to pay a fee.
Alderwoman Joni Tibbs said she felt very strongly that taxpayers
in the city should not be asked to pay a fee. On the other hand, she
does support charging a fee to contractors.
Alderman David Wilmert said he agreed with Tibbs.
"I can't see putting together a fee structure for everybody when
just a few people are abusing the system," he said.
Wilmert noted that we don't charge for fire and police services,
and yet every service in the city is abused from time to time.
Armbrust answered that comment by saying that the city was required
to provide police and fire services as safe streets; however, he
doesn't know of anything that says the city has to provide a
landscape waste landfill.
Alderman Marty Neitzel also commented that if the city starts
charging, some people may stop using the landfill, and the result
could be big messes inside the city with waste and debris not being
cleaned up at all.
Tibbs also wanted to know if there was another reason for
discussing this: Was this possibly an avenue for more city revenues?
Armbrust said that it all came from the complaint, but that yes,
if there was a fee charged, perhaps the landfill could be maintained
better. It was noted that the city pays approximately $6,000 once a
year for a professional chipping machine to come in and grind the
woody products.
Mayor Keith Snyder noted that currently the landfill receives
about 400 loads per week of landscape waste. At $1 per load, $400
per week, $20,000 per year, the city could possibly afford to have
the grinder come in up to three times a year.
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Snyder said he has talked to people who said they would gladly
donate to a fund that would help keep the landfill maintained.
Wilmert wondered if there had been any research into alternative
funding: something such as seeking donations or looking for any kind
of funding that would not be laid on taxpayers. He felt like it was
wrong to ask the taxpayers to pay for its use.
Neitzel asked if he would also eliminate the fee to the
contractors, and Wilmert said no.
She then said that he wasn't quite seeing what the problem is.
The problem lies in that the city doesn't know who the contractors
are, and they can't figure it out.
Wilmert said he had his doubts about that as well. He said among
other things they should be noting who uses the landfill and how
often. If someone is showing up multiple times a week, someone needs
to ask them why.
During the course of the meeting it was noted by Alderman Buzz
Busby that at a recent Municipal League meeting in Chicago, he had
learned that the state is looking to cut funding to municipalities.
If they succeed, the city might be hard-pressed to keep the landfill
open without a fee.
The council went on to talk about doing a survey of those who use
the landfill, asking if they would be willing to pay a fee for the
service.
It was decided that a very brief survey will be put together and
distributed by the landfill attendants when loads come in.
Armbrust said he wants to stay on this and come up with an answer
as quickly as possible.
He said that if a fee structure is imposed, he would like to have
it start the first of the year. However, he also said that he wants
plenty of time to advertise it, put up notices at the landfill and
generally make the public aware well ahead of time.
Snyder asked Wilmert to get the survey put together and to the
city landfill as soon as possible.
[By NILA SMITH]
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